Drone Strikes Major St. Petersburg Bridge, Hitting Key Highway Connecting City’s North and South

A drone reportedly struck a major eight-lane bridge in Russia’s St. Petersburg overnight on October 18, targeting a key section of the Western High-Speed Diameter highway that connects the northern and southern parts of the city. The extent of the damage remains unclear.

According to OSINT investigations by ASTRA and Exilenova+ on October 18, the drone struck the cable-stayed bridge spanning the Korabelny Fairway, a major crossing linking two districts of Russia’s second-largest city.

Eyewitness footage reportedly captured an explosion on the bridge, allowing OSINT analysts to geolocate the incident to coordinates 59.919637° N, 30.209319° E. The precise extent of the structural damage has not yet been established.

The bridge connects Bely Island in St. Petersburg’s Kirovsky district with Vasilyevsky Island, forming part of the southern section of the Western High-Speed Diameter, a toll highway providing a major transport connection across the city.

Measuring 622 meters in length and 39 meters in width, the bridge carries eight lanes of traffic. Construction began in 2013, and the crossing officially opened in December 2016.

The reported strike occurred approximately 4.5 kilometers from the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, where a fire broke out following the same overnight drone attack. Russian authorities also reported disruptions at Pulkovo Airport, where flight operations were temporarily suspended.

The strikes extended beyond the bridge and oil terminal. A VKontakte data center and the nearby Vostochnaya electrical substation in the Leningrad region were also hit, coinciding with power outages and disruptions to the Russian social media platform.

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